At 7:30 yesterday morning we joined another school for
morning devotions. Our team was welcomed
and we took part in worshipping our Heavenly Father. Again we noticed how the children worship
with complete abandon as they sing their praises to God. One of the team members commented that he was
so amazed at how these children worship and thank God with their whole hearts
even though they have very little as far as materialistic things. They love God and are so grateful for His
salvation and power in their lives. They are so thankful.
We then began our home visits and each team member that has
a sponsor child was able to go to the child’s home to visit, pray with them and
leave a gift. Other team members came to the homes and enjoyed watching the
visit between the sponsor and their sponsor child. Some of the children were picked up from
school and rode in the vans with us to their homes. In so many cases, the living conditions that
these children and their families live in is incomprehensible. Many of the homes are hammered together with
wood pieces leaving large gaps in the walls.
The floors are dirt and animals such as dogs and chickens walk freely
through the homes. Often the beds don’t
have mattresses, but are just pieces of wood or cardboard lying across a wooden
frame and sometimes an entire family of six or more people will share one small
bed. One small home that we visited has nineteen people living it. These living
conditions brought about many emotions within our team and at times it was
overwhelming. The children and families
were so excited to have their sponsor visit them as this was evident in their
faces and beautiful smiles. Students
with a sponsor child have expressed many times how much they love their child
that they have only just met. It is a
powerful thing to witness these relationships growing and the connections that
are being made. God is definitely at work in everyone’s hearts.
After the home visits we went back to Vida Nueva to do our
second VBS. Our team was greeted by many
of the kids as we walked onto the grounds.
The team taught the children about our God being big. After the Bible lesson we had the opportunity
to play games and activities with the kids.
There were about 120 kids choosing activities like water balloon races,
parachute, bubble blowing, face painting, tag games and soccer. It was an amazing and rewarding time as team
members bonded and formed incredible relationships with the children in the
village. We formed a line as we were
leaving and all of the children walked through and gave us each a hug. There were so many big hugs, tickles and
laughter as they came through the line.
We loaded into the vans and it was very difficult to leave. We have only
one more day with the children at Vida Nueva and it will be a very tough good
bye today.
Back at the guest house Les had another debrief session with
us and it is very evident that God is doing a huge work in many of the lives of
the team. Students expressed the love
that they feel for these children and for the people of Guatemala. Even though there is a language barrier we
know that love has no bounds. We are so
thankful for every opportunity we have to spend time with these children and
for the doors that God is opening. It
was an incredible, unforgettable day!
Thank you so much for your prayers! We know that you are
back home praying for us and we appreciate it so much. Please continue to pray for health and
strength for the team. Cristo
Vive!!! (Jesus Lives!!!)
We will try again tonight to post a few pictures.
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